Image Advance Arrivals: September 2026
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
G.I. Joe vol. 4: The Hunt For Energon
It may be subtitled “The Hunt for Energon” but payoff looks to be the name of the game for the fourth volume of this series. I mean, just look at that cover. Duke’s hatred of all things Cybertronian following his close encounter with Starscream has been a driving force behind his actions as part of G.I. Joe, and the end of the Dreadnok War forced him into a really uncomfortable place with regards to that. Now the question is whether or not he’ll be able to choke all that down once he meets Optimus Prime and potentially get a new ally in the fight against Cobra? Or will his anger get the better of him. Could go either way here, as it wouldn’t surprise me if writer Joshua Williamson decided to kick the inevitable G.I. Joe/Autobot alliance further down the road. You know, like he’s doing with Snake Eyes.
Speaking of the franchise’s most popular character who hasn’t made any appearance yet in the Energon Universe, we’re also going to get some follow-up to the “Scarlett” miniseries as the title character and Storm Shadow make their debuts in the main title. “M.A.S.K.’s” Matt Trakker also makes his return to the series, and while it’s not mentioned, we’re almost certain to get some follow-up as to how that Dreadnok has been pulling the Joes’ strings. It’s a lot to follow up on here, but variety worked in this title’s favor with vol. 2. I’m expecting it all to go down quite smoothly and helping with that is the fact that regular artist Tom Reilly will be illustrating most of it.
But we’re not done with “G.I. Joe” yet in these solicitations…
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Silent Missions vol. 2: Not keeping the “Sssilent Missions” title that the original issues had is a cowardly move, but oh well. While vol. 1 involved the Joes, this one is all about Cobra as Baroness, Firefly, Zartan, Copperhead, and The Crimson Guard all get their moments in the spotlight with these wordless stories. As before, a lot of talented people have shown they’re up for the challenge of doing a silent story: Joelle Jones, Howard Porter, Jorge Fornes, and Gabriel Hardman are just some of the creators depicting the bad, bad, evil, and no good actions of these Cobra operatives across the world. Interestingly, the franchise’s most prominent creator, longtime “A Real American Hero” writer Larry Hama, is also credited here with a reprint of a story from “G.I. Joe Yearbook #3.” While his classic “G.I. Joe #21” was reprinted in the previous volume, I didn’t know that he did another silent story after that. For everyone else’s sake, I hope this one doesn’t school the others as was the case with Hama’s contribution to vol. 1.
Are we done with this franchise yet? Almost…
G.I. Joe #26: I’m not denying that’s another striking cover from Tom Reilly, but BOY HOWDY am I glad that I was able to read vol. 3 before I saw it. You could say that it’s something of a spoiler.
Deicidium vol. 1: Returned: It’s the future and belief has been monetized! Or rather, it’s been co-opted by megacorporations and the new religions that have sprung up after a global war. Things are going well (for a given definition of the word) until the old gods start awakening in ordinary people. Fortunately the gods of this new world knew that this would happen, and they’ve got twelve chosen warriors of their own to put their forerunners down once again. This comes to us from writer Ram V and artist Evan Cagle, who’ve previously worked together on DC’s “The New Gods” and “Dawnrunner” from Dark Horse. I’ve found V’s work to be uneven in the past, but he’s pitching this as a mash-up of “Heroes” and the Shonen Jump ethos, so I’m at least a little curious to see if these creators can deliver an appealingly weird battle comic (that doesn’t flame out after its first volume).
Crimes Against Nature #1: Famous Hollywood animal trainer Dr. Kermit Groeden and his best friend Amigo the Ape – the first gorilla ever nominated for an Academy Award – are framed for a crime that they didn’t commit. Forced to go on the run, they’re going to have to confront their hidden pasts and reveal their darkest secrets. From writer Elliot Rahal and artist Mattia Monaco, this feels like a hard comic to get a read on from its solicitation. Is it a straight-faced sendup of the Hollywood machine designed to skewer the absurd trappings of stardom? Or is it just straight faced? With a premise like this, I certainly hope that it’s the former.
Ofiusa #1 (of 6): New from creator Guillem March is some nonsense about a multiversal love triangle. I’m just mentioning this here because the main cover is sexy in a way that you don’t really see in mainstream comics. Mainly in the way that it doesn’t really show anything naughty, but it shows just enough for you to keep looking and maybe even use your brain to imagine what’s not being shown. To the point where I wonder how the ($10!) NSFW cover could be sexier than what we see here.
Tales of Wonder #1 (of 5): A couple of legendary comic creators – who are certainly NOT inspired by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby – have to deal with seeing their creations come to life. On the eve of the debut of the cinematic universe based on them, no less! We’ve seen this kind of story before, and it’s going to take someone with a real sense of style to sell it to me again. Fortunately we’ve got the immensely talented Steve Skroce writing and illustrating it, and after “Post Americana” someone who has the right kind of crazy sensibilities for a story about comic book characters come to life.
Nameless 10th Anniversary Deluxe HC: Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham’s sci-fi/horror head trip gets a special edition in honor of this particular anniversary. I don’t have the strong memory of this that I do with most of Morrison’s work, so I think I’ll just be re-reading the hardcover copy I already have than investing in this new one. I do remember it contains the writer’s notes on what the miniseries was actually about (which was certainly something), so I doubt that the advertised 40 extra pages of bonus material will be more insightful than that.
Red Roots vol. 1: A professional killer and a teacher try to solve a mystery and wind up getting sucked further into it than they could imagine. That’s not much to go on, but this comes to us from creator Lorenzo De Felici, the artist of “Oblivion Song” and the first three volumes of “Void Rivals.” He’s writing and illustrating his own thing here and while I know he’s a pretty good artist, it’s time to see whether or not Robert Kirkman has been holding him back after all these years. I’m willing to bet that he hasn’t been, but we shall see.
Stray Dogs HC: Collects the hit five-issue miniseries and the two-issue “Dog Days” follow-up in one volume for $35. Worth picking up in this format if you didn’t get the collected editions of those comics. Certainly not worth re-buying if you’re like me and already have them. Not because they aren’t good, but because there aren’t any significant extras being advertised for this edition.
Super Creepshow: I thought the first two volumes of the regular “Creepshow” horror anthology were just okay. There were a few exceptions, but most of the stories in those volumes weren’t scary or particularly inventive. While the main anthology is continuing on, issue #1 of vol. 5 is solicited here, the superhero-focused spinoff gets collected. I’m actually looking forward to this because it features a lot of talented creators with plenty of history in the genre doing whatever they want. Kieron Gillen, Gerry Duggan, Marv Wolfman, Ryan North, and more will be doing their level best to make me hope that the lack of a “vol. 1” in this solicitation is just an oversight rather than a promise.
Battle Beast vol. 2: The Emissary: In the first volume, BATTLE BEAST GOT REALLY ANGRY AND FOUGHT A WHOLE BUNCH OF BAD ALIENS!!! I’m going to guess that in this second volume, BATTLE BEAST WILL GET EVEN ANGRIER AND FIGHT EVEN WORSE ALIENS!!! I know the second half of that statement is true as vol. 1 ended with the promise of the Viltrumite Empire sending Conquest to take the Beast out. I’m sure this will look great with Ryan Ottley getting all the time he needs to draw all six issues here, and there will likely be some good fights and moments of humor and cleverness strewn throughout. Will there be enough to make me hope that writer Robert Kirkman and Ottley continue to work on this series instead of turning their talents onto a new project? Probably not, if vol. 1 was any indication.